Album

Whether comic or dramatic, Sir Malcolm Arnold's concert overtures are always entertaining fare: lavishly orchestrated, generously stocked with infectious melodies, and featuring not a few strokes of inspiration. Most notorious and hilarious of Arnold's bonbons is A Grand Grand Festival Overture, composed in 1956 for the Hoffnung Festival and featuring such rare instruments as Hoover vacuum cleaners, floor polishers, and a firing squad to dispatch the noisy soloists. (For those who get impatient with the ridiculously long coda, rest assured, it does eventually end). The other selections on this 2005 Chandos release are not as silly, but they are delightful for their vivid scene painting and stylistic gambits; note the jazz inflections in The Smoke, the lively Celtic tunes in Tam o' Shanter, and the screwball polytonality of Beckus the Dandipratt (the work that gained Arnold access to the film industry). Even the more seriously intended overtures, such as Peterloo, The Fair Field, and A Sussex Overture are arresting in their orchestration and melodic invention, and Arnold's buoyant personality shines through, even when the musical arguments are most contentious. The BBC Philharmonic, directed by Rumon Gamba, turns in luscious performances full of bright colors and vital rhythms, and Chandos offers wonderfully realistic sound quality.

© Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

CD 1
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer A Grand, Grand Overture, Op.57 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
1	A Grand, Grand Overture, Op.57	7:59			$1.49
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer Peterloo Overture, Op.97 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
2	Peterloo Overture, Op.97	10:08			$1.99
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer The Smoke, Op.21 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
3	The Smoke, Op.21	7:57			$1.49
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer Tam O'Shanter Overture, Op.51 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
4	Tam O'Shanter Overture, Op.51	8:17			$1.49
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer A Flourish, Op.112 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
5	A Flourish, Op.112	3:25			$0.99
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer The Fair Field, Op.110 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
6	The Fair Field, Op.110	7:17			$1.49
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer A Sussex Overture, Op.31 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
7	A Sussex Overture, Op.31	9:18			$1.49
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer Anniversary Overture, Op.99 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
8	Anniversary Overture, Op.99	4:19			$0.99
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer Robert Kett Overture, Op.141 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
9	Robert Kett Overture, Op.141	7:52			$1.49
Sir Malcolm Arnold Composer Beckus the Dandipratt, comedy overture, Op.5 Work Rumon Gamba Conductor, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
10	Beckus the Dandipratt, comedy overture, Op.5	7:57			$1.49